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We are a group of Faculty and Staff at Mahatma Education Society (www.mes.ac.in) that began an initiative to move our group of institutions towards open source software and solutions for our different campuses. When we started this project we realized that there were not many resources available for educational institutions which will allow them to navigate and chart a course to go from expensive, commercial software to fully open source systems. We hope to bridge this gap. In this website you will find useful information about pro and cons, installation and utilization of various freely available software and how it can be used for Science, Engineering, Technology, Media, Architecture and Business Education.

Most of the information on this site is freely and widely available on different sites and sometimes this information might even contradict each other. We make no guarantees about the accuracy of the given information or whether it is up to date. Please verify whether this information can be used by you for your particular organization before implementation.

Why Open Source?

The term "open source" refers to something that can be modified because its design is publicly accessible. In general, open source projects, products, or initiatives are those that embrace and celebrate open exchange, collaborative participation, rapid prototyping, transparency, meritocracy, and community development. Many people prefer open source software because they have more control over that kind of software. They can examine the code to make sure it's not doing anything they don't want it to do, and they can change parts of it they don't like. Users who aren’t programmers also benefit from open source software, because they can use this software for any purpose they wish—not merely the way someone else thinks they should. Some people prefer open source software because they consider it moresecureand stable than proprietary software. Because anyone can view and modify open source software, someone might spot and correct errors or omissions that a program's original authors might have missed. And because so many programmers can work on a piece of open source software without asking for permission from original authors, open source software is generally fixed, updated, and upgradedquickly.

Many users prefer open source software to proprietary software for important, long-term projects. Because the source code for open source software is distributed publicly, users that rely on software for critical tasks can be sure their tools won’t disappear or fall into disrepair if their original creators stop working on them.

We are constantly developing and improving this website so feedback is appreciated.

If you would like to become a contributor please email ppillai@mes.ac.in